Maria and I hope to go away somewhere next week for a couple of days, maybe back to Hampton Beach in New Hampshire to walk and sit by the beach and read, clear out our smoldering heads, eat some fresh seafood, love and talk. I’ve stockpiled a few books this week to take with us if we can go.

I just got “The Job,” by Steve Osborne, a memoir of life in the New York Police Department. I bought “Alter Egos,” by Mark Sandler, a study of Hilary Clinton’s uneasy relatioship with Barack Obama during her time as Secretary Of State. I enjoy the Donna Leon mysteries set in Venice (“The Waters Of Eternal Youth”), her books are short on plot, long on Venetian atmosphere.  I have a new much buzzed-about novel of World War II by Chris Cleave, “Everyone Brave Is Forgiven,” and also “Valiant Ambition” by Nathaniel Filbrick, a fascinating account of the deep friendship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold, before it was shattered by Arnold’s arrest for treason.

I’m eager to read these books, hopefully  near the ocean.